US Performance Royalty Organizations

http://bmi.com
http://www.ascap.com
SESAC - mostly for country and gospel

These guys collect license fees from any public place or broadcaster that plays music, and divides that money up and gives it to the composer and the recording artist. You choose to register with one of the two companies, and they send you the checks (minus some accounting fees).

Here's the catch: the shares are split up based on monitoring radio and TV airplay. So club music can just forget it, even though the clubs must also pay the license. Agents from these companies really do go to bars and take meticulous notes and bust places that don't pay their license. I'm not kidding.

When you acheive a certain level of airplay, you get bonuses like quadruple pay. So Top 40 artists are walking off with even more of your money.

Really though, in the US very few small artists see much money from these guys. People who are represented by publishing companies tend to get paid, individual artists don't. The European situation is different, they actually get paid.

Of the two, BMI monitors far more radio hours (100,000), and thus increases your chances of being a blip on the radar. They also have no membership fee, and offer free legal consultation.

ASCAP are better if you want to go AOR (album orientated rock dude). Better bonuses.

BMI and ASCAP have deals worked out with agencies in other countries. European airplay gets monitored, the fees get collected, and theoretically the money makes its way back to the US artist and record label. The reverse is true as well except all we have on the radio over here is Garth Brooks.

In most if not all European clubs you can choose to submit your playlist and the club will send that on to their PRO. Most DJs don't bother, so the ones that do are making good money for the artists that they play. If you play at a festival be sure to check up if you can submit your playlist.

In the US the money is divided 50/50 between the song writer and the publisher. If you are the song writer, you are by default also the publisher until you have signed that right to a separate publisher. When registering your songs with BMI/ASCAP you usually state that you own %100 and %100 = %200 meaning that you own the writer and publisher shares.

I do not know what the deal is if you register with BMI and a foreign PRO like GEMA. There might be some violation if you are registering the same tracks twice.